1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a laminated structure comprised of alternate smooth and corrugated board which forms a corrugated laminate for the subsequent manufacture of contact bodies, hereinafter referred to as contactors, for use in the manufacture of heat-exchangers and moisture-exchangers and corresponding devices.
2. History of the Related Art
Contactors, such as those which are intended for the exchange of moisture or heat, or both, are typically comprised of thin layers of formable material, such as paper webs of glass fibers, cellulose or the like, which can be formed into a laminate structure, by combining smooth and corrugated paper-web board or sheets and mutually bonding the sheets so as to form a structure that exhibits a plurality of open, passageways or cells.
In known methods for producing such contactors, for instance in the form of a rotor, the corrugated and smooth paper webs are normally joined together with the aid of an organic adhesive, which is also applied to the laminate when coiling the laminate to form a rotor-shaped contactor, or when binding smooth laminate sheets to a cube-shaped contactor. The contactor is then impregnated with a waterglass solution, so as to form a gel which is then subsequently treated converted into to a solid substance on the contactor, thereby imparting moisture-transferring and heat-transferring properties to the contactor. The contactor is normally impregnated with waterglass, by immersing the cube-shaped or rotor-like contactor in a waterglass solution. This method is encumbered with several drawbacks, however. For instance, it is desirable to impregnate the contactor with the greatest possible amount of waterglass, in order to impart good moisture-transference and heat-transference properties to the contactor. However, as a result of the large quantities of waterglass absorbed by the submerged contactor, the contactor shrinks in size by 15 to 20%. It is necessary to take this shrinkage into account when manufacturing the contactor blank or preform. Another draw-back with this known method is that it is often necessary to burn-off the organic adhesive, in order to provide a contactor which will not burn readily. However, those laminate surfaces which were earlier covered by the adhesive will not have been impregnated with waterglass during the impregnation process and will therefore be devoid of waterglass when the adhesive is burned-off. Another drawback of the known method, in which the finished contactor is submersed in a waterglass solution, is that the narrow contactor passageways easily become blocked, meaning that the waterglass solution used must be relatively thin-bodied. Still another drawback is that the waterglass solution is relatively unevenly distributed throughout the contactor.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,937 teaches a method of manufacturing filters by impregnating a cellulose paper with a slurry that contains petalite and a small amount of talc mixed in an epoxy solution. The paper is brought to a desired form and then heat-treated. This method, which relates to the manufacture of porous filter material, cannot be applied in the manufacture of a heat exchange contactor of the kind to which the present invention relates, since the introduction of those substances included in the slurry used with the known method would impair the properties of the contactor.